Eurton retires Vantastic
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Trainer Peter Eurton said on Wednesday that the 10-year-old gelding Vantastic will not race again after winning a $25,000 claiming race on turf at Santa Anita on April 4.
“I’m going to make him into a riding horse and let him have some fun,” Eurton said.
Vantastic raced for Joe Ciaglia and SAF Racing for most of his career, which began with a second-place finish in a maiden race for 2-year-olds at Los Alamitos in September 2018. Vantastic won his second start in a maiden race on the hillside turf course at Santa Anita a month later and was third in the Grade 3 Cecil B. DeMille Stakes on turf at Del Mar that fall.
In his only other stakes appearance, Vantastic was third in the Grade 3 Lazaro Barrera Stakes for 3-year-olds at seven furlongs on dirt at Santa Anita in May 2019. In his career, spent entirely in Eurton's stable, Vantastic won 9 of 39 starts and earned $401,351.
“I’ve had him ever since he was a yearling,” Eurton said.
Had Vantastic stayed in training, the current season would have been his last. The three operating tracks in California – Del Mar, Los Alamitos, and Santa Anita – do not allow 11-year-olds to race.
The partnership of Ciaglia, SAF Racing, and Eurton have an active 10-year-old in Jetovator, the winner of a turf sprint at Del Mar last November. Eurton said that Jetovator may run at Los Alamitos on Sunday in a dirt allowance.
“It’s the only dirt track he likes,” Eurton said.
Jetovator has won 7 of 40 starts and earned $436,611. He has finished second in three starts at Los Alamitos.
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